Board of Health June Meeting: Some Believe in Fear and Shame

The City of Lubbock Board of Health assembled yesterday for their June meeting. The two primary agenda items were (1) an informational item concerning services provided by the Health Dept Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Clinic and the nature of the problem in our community and (2) an update on the hydraulic fracturing resolution and the special committee appointed by the city council to further investigate this issue.

One of the board noted that proper health education should contain fear and shame as components and that such approaches are common in health care. This view lacked support from others on the Board (and in the room).

Dr. Anne Epstein, in speaking about the hydraulic fracturing resolution and the special committee formed by the council, noted that the committee has not yet met. Councilwoman Joy suggested that the board go forward with presenting our previously passed resolution to the council and this will be scheduled in the next month.

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"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Jonathan Swift "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Groucho Marx

Fear and shame tend to cause people to hide things, like possible STDs. They tend to feel shame and fear for possibly contracting an STD. They tend to avoid going for STD screenings because of the shame and fear of being found positive. They tend to lie to their partners and pass on their STDs to said partners.

Advertisers,and pharmaceutical companies wanting to sell us drugs use shame and fear, but I don't think that it is a great thing as far as STDs go.

The board member who recommended using shame and fear to reduce local STD rates must be neither a doctor, nor a parent, and they probably use shame and fear to try to get people to do what they want them to do on a daily basis.

Must be a fun person to be around if one has a massive guilt complex, and maybe doesn't have the guts to self-flagellate.

"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Jonathan Swift "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Groucho Marx

works well for children. The old DARE program and AO sex ed both use/d fear and shame to get kids to Just Say No, but the message tends/ed to cause a backlash as the kids hit puberty and they discovered that they were fed misinformation.

I think I have mentioned that we get rid of the slides of diseased genitalia for our STD lectures. Those pics instill fear, but they are not representative of how most genitalia look for folks with STDs. A visual examination is not nearly enough to be safe from contracting an STD.

I wonder if bigotry can cause one to fear and shame those that suffer more than others? Probably. The std clinic would help those most in need, but it sounds like stereotyping is in the interest of one board member.

Re: Fracking. I am currently not able to get the video, but am wondering who was selected from the community to join the committee. Maybe it was reported on, but I missed it.

Just want to make sure that all interests are represented fairly. Does anyone know?

I looked over the list yesterday of who was on the committee. I remember that Dr. Epstein and Dr. Steve Presley are on it from the B of H. Zach Brady, who reviewed the four sevens contract that the city signed previously, is also on there. There was a Mr. Harris on there. Karen Porter from the West Texas Accountability Project is on there. Don't recall the other, about ten in all I believe.

I enjoyed the comedy from the usual source, along with the mindless remarks--which showed the usual bravado about being an expert in every field including farming. (I think I will skip spraying my walls with that stuff--since it could stain the paint......)

The public is bombarded with commentary that abstinence-based sex education is not working. The Liberals continue their assault on abstinence, particularly abstinence for teenage girls.

Like seatbelts, abstinence does not work when it is not used. It is incorrect to say abstinence is not working. Abstinence works 100% of the time to prevent pregnancy and is the most effective deterrent to sexually transmitted diseases. It is correct to say that there appears to be significant opposition to abstinence.

First we need to look at facts that should influence health care decisions:

1) The birth rate for unmarried women has greatly increased since the 1960s.

2) The teenage birth rate reached its highest level during the 1990s.

3) President Bush's abstinence-based sex education programs began the fall of 2001.

The overall birth rate in the Unites States increased in 2006, including a rise in the teenage birth rate. It is not clear whether this increase was among both married and unmarried teenagers. It is also not apparent how much of an influence the unskilled immigrant population has affected the teenage birth rate.

The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gives similar warning, “The surest way to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases is to abstain from sexual intercourse, or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and you know is uninfected.”
http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/condoms.pdf

“Studies have shown that abstinent teens report, on average, better psychological well-being and higher academic achievement than those who are sexually active. Delaying the initiation of or reducing early sexual activity among teens can decrease their overall exposure to risks of unwed childbearing, STDs, and psycho-emotional harm. Authentic abstinence programs are therefore crucial to efforts aimed at reducing unwed childbearing and improving youth well-being.
Opponents of abstinence education contend that these programs fail to influence teen sexual behavior. At this stage, the available evidence supports neither this assessment nor the wholesale dismissal of authentic abstinence education programs.”

“Although 80 percent of parents want schools to teach youths to abstain from sexual activity until they are in a committed adult romantic relationship nearing marriage—the core message of abstinence education—these parental values are rarely communicated in the classroom.
In the classroom, the prevailing mentality often condones teen sexual activity as long as youths use contraceptives. Abstinence is usually mentioned only in passing, if at all. Sadly, many teens who need to learn about the benefits of abstaining from sexual activity during the teenage years never hear them, and many students who choose to abstain fail to receive adequate support for their decisions.
Teen sexual activity is costly, not just for teens, but also for society. Teens who engage in sexual activity risk a host of negative outcomes including STD infection, emotional and psychological harm, lower educational attainment, and out-of-wedlock childbearing.”

“Most experts concerned about teen pregnancy assume that teenage girls don't want to get pregnant. So, they assume, the logical way to reduce teen pregnancy is to teach the girls how to avoid getting pregnant, whether through abstinence or contraception. Almost all campaigns to reduce teen pregnancy are based on this premise.”

Dr. Maloney continued,
“prescribing contraceptives without parental notification or consent is common practice at school health clinics. In fact, federal law requires it when the minor is eligible for Medicaid, or when the clinic receives Title X funds. The policy is based on the belief that requiring parental consent before a girl can get birth control won't reduce teen sexual activity at all. Because the parents may say no and because teens will, presumably, ‘do it anyway,’ requiring consent only makes it more likely that the girl would get pregnant or contract a disease.
This view is unproven, but it has been the foundation of U.S. family planning policy since 1972. And the push to expand school-based health clinics is part of a movement to increase the availability of birth control to minors without their parents' knowledge or consent. It's difficult to imagine a more counterproductive approach. These girls need more parental involvement, not less.”
“Studies [show] that teens are less likely to have sex if they think their parents disapprove. But parents are often kept in the dark, thanks to misbegotten health care policies which view them as a threat to their daughter's best interests.”

It is ethically incumbent upon society to impress upon children and their parents that abstinence is the only “safe sex” and that unmarried teenage sexual activity carries with it a very high risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

"America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within." Josef Stalin

"America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within." Josef Stalin